Need Advice

Wrestlemania

Hi Guys,

I have been out of training for about a year and have put on considerable weight.

i.e. I am 17 Stone and 6' 2" on a large frame.

My died is sh1t and not very good, just eat when I have to and no routine.

I was in the military and that disciplined me a lot.

But out here in Civvy street it is harder to train.

I want to loose about 2 to 3 stone ideally, I was just below a 34" waist when I left the army now I am 36 to 37" waist.

I am used to hard slog training but just need the right guidance and maybe I will get into all my cool clothes in a few months.

I have though intially of going on a Cabbage soup diet for 2 weeks to loose the water then the atkins diet to be combined with training any suggestions.

tunney

You'd know it was summer time - fitness board getting more posts, all about losing weight and everyone suggesting/using fad diets.

Stark

No to the cabbage soup diet. Water retention is a tertiary (I won't even say secondary) concern of practically any diet. The Atkin's diet is pretty good, it's based on a lot more than just fad principles. ) (Interestingly enough people are still following the high starch, low-fat fad diet). Make sure you do it properly though, remember the suplements, and take it easy, only do induction for 2 weeks etc. Induction can be very gruelling by the way, especially if you're one of the people who find carbohydrates addictive. You'll feel sluggish from not being used to burning fat, and you'll experience withdrawl symptoms. You might be best reducting carbohydrates gradually starting with alchohol, then sugar, then pasta, cereal, white bread and start leaving the skin on your potatoes before going on the diet.

If it's a beer gut you're trying to get rid of (as opposed to more distributed weight gain) then weight training is your best bet in order to reduce your insulin resistance (cutting down on the carbs also helps with this).

tunney

(Interestingly enough people are still following the high starch, low-fat fad diet)

Hands up if you follow the high carbs low fat diet?? *HAND UP*
Hands up if your bodyfat is under 12%?? *HAND UP*
Hands up if you have plenty of energy?? *HAND UP*

Hands up if you have a weight problem??

Interesting isn't that its the people WITH weight problems that give advice on diet.

Stark

It's the people with the weight problems that need to diet. Obese people are often the people who don't process carbohydrates effectively. Approximately 60% of people process carbohydrates effectively (thought to be people with Types A and AB blood), these are the people who don't tend to gain weight (except maybe after really heavy drinking), and so it's a case of if it ain't broke don't fix it for these people. 40% of people though don't process carbohydrates effectively and for these people a diet ratio of 40% carbohydrate, 35% protein and 25% fat is best. Not being able to process carbs effectively leads to a vicious cycle of constantly wanting more and more carbs leading you to get fatter and fatter, and to a condition known as "Syndrome X" also known as "insulin resistance" or "prediabetes". Interesting article on it here: http://www.mercola.com/article/carbohydrates/lower_your_grains.htm

tunney

Hands up if you're type O? *HAND UP*

Dress it up whatever way you want but the majority of overweight people are overweight solely because they eat too much.

It's the people with the weight problems that need to diet

Yip no problem with that - but perhaps the people giving the advice should not be overweight - or die obese.

Wrestlemania

I admit I have ate to much, booze not really but food yes.

Thanks for the advice. Need to loose this weight not for the summer but moreso health, have a fatty build up on my liver directly releated to being overweight.

cheers everyone!

Stark

Yip no problem with that - but perhaps the people giving the advice should not be overweight - or die obese.

The best person to give advice would be someone who's overcome a weight problem in my opinion. Who are these people who've given advice and then died obese that you mention?

For someone who has a weight problem, especially the centralised obsesity/apple shape that most people have, low-carb dieting is definitely the way to lose the weight. I'm talking about this independantly of exercise by the way, as exercise signifigantly improves your ability to handle carbohydrates as you're constanly burning them off and it decreases your insulin resistance. For myself I went the high-carb/vigorous exercise for a while and while I did lose the weight it did go horribly wrong for me after I got injured and couldn't run. Ended up gaining back all the weight I had lost and ending up with depression for nearly 2 years. This was all because I kept eating the same quantity of carbohydrates that I had before and allowing myself to become insulin resistant. It's only now that I've cut way back on the carbohydrates that I feel well enough to start exercising again. Once I've regained fitness I'll probably start eating more carbohydrates in tandem with my activity level. This is something the Atkins diet also advocates by the way, it starts by cutting out all carbs but vegetables until the dieter regains their insulin sensitivity and reaches their ideal weight, then they start eating more carbohydrates again until they find something that's stable for them.

I will grant you that the carbohydrates do make running easier. Though I do find personally that although I might run better, I don't tend to think as well as the insulin deprives my brain of much needed glucose, which I burn veraciously when I'm at college at stuff.

EKRIUQ

Originally posted by tunney
You'd know it was summer time - fitness board getting more posts, all about losing weight and everyone suggesting/using fad diets.

Atkins diet is around since the 70's

Try here for more informationLow carb forum

Stark

Found these myths on low-carb dieting:

Myth 1 If I go on a low carbohydrate diet, I’ll never be able to eat fruit, vegetables or grains/potatoes again.
Low carbohydrate diets do not exclude these foods. The initial phase of the diet (the Induction phase of Atkins), which people often mistake for the entire programme, is the most strict - permitting only 20 grams of carbohydrate each day. Once you move to Ongoing Weight Loss (whether after two weeks or longer), you begin to add these foods back into your meals. The main “enemies” of this plan are refined carbohydrates - white flour, sugar and sugary foods.

Myth 2 Ketosis is dangerous.
Confusion about ketosis often comes from people mistaking it for ketoacidosis, a condition found in type 1 diabetics that can be fatal (this occurs when a person's blood sugar is out of control and he or she cannot produce insulin).

"Ketosis is a normal physiological state", says Richard Veech, an NIH researcher who studied medicine at Harvard. They make the body run more efficiently and provide a backup fuel source for the brain.

Myth 3 Too much protein is bad for your kidneys.
Too many people believe this untruth simply because it has been repeated so often. In fact, the American Heart Association revised recently their guidelines suggesting that a high-protein diet may have adverse effects on the kidneys. A new study shows that this is only true if the person had kidney problems before starting the high-protein diet.

Myth 4 Low carbohydrate diets cause gallbladder disease.
There is now overwhelming scientific evidence that gallstones (responsible for more than 90% of gallbladder disease) are formed when fat intake is low. In a study that examined the effects of a diet that provided 27 grams of fat per day, gallstones developed in 13% of the participants.

The reason for this is that the gallbladder will not contract unless fat is taken in. If it doesn't contract, a condition called biliary stasis develops - and causes the bile salts to crystallise into stones. Our gallbladders need to be kept active to prevent stone formation.

Of course I agree wholeheartingly with the bit about the "main enemies being sugar and refined flour".

Wrestlemania

Originally posted by Stark
Found these myths on low-carb dieting:

Myth 1 If I go on a low carbohydrate diet, I’ll never be able to eat fruit, vegetables or grains/potatoes again.
Low carbohydrate diets do not exclude these foods. The initial phase of the diet (the Induction phase of Atkins), which people often mistake for the entire programme, is the most strict - permitting only 20 grams of carbohydrate each day. Once you move to Ongoing Weight Loss (whether after two weeks or longer), you begin to add these foods back into your meals. The main “enemies” of this plan are refined carbohydrates - white flour, sugar and sugary foods.

Myth 2 Ketosis is dangerous.
Confusion about ketosis often comes from people mistaking it for ketoacidosis, a condition found in type 1 diabetics that can be fatal (this occurs when a person's blood sugar is out of control and he or she cannot produce insulin).

"Ketosis is a normal physiological state", says Richard Veech, an NIH researcher who studied medicine at Harvard. They make the body run more efficiently and provide a backup fuel source for the brain.

Myth 3 Too much protein is bad for your kidneys.
Too many people believe this untruth simply because it has been repeated so often. In fact, the American Heart Association revised recently their guidelines suggesting that a high-protein diet may have adverse effects on the kidneys. A new study shows that this is only true if the person had kidney problems before starting the high-protein diet.

Myth 4 Low carbohydrate diets cause gallbladder disease.
There is now overwhelming scientific evidence that gallstones (responsible for more than 90% of gallbladder disease) are formed when fat intake is low. In a study that examined the effects of a diet that provided 27 grams of fat per day, gallstones developed in 13% of the participants.

The reason for this is that the gallbladder will not contract unless fat is taken in. If it doesn't contract, a condition called biliary stasis develops - and causes the bile salts to crystallise into stones. Our gallbladders need to be kept active to prevent stone formation.

Of course I agree wholeheartingly with the bit about the "main enemies being sugar and refined flour".

Cheers Guys and Stark in Particular, I will come here more often for advice and will give ye a progress update when I start on Sunday fingers crossed.:p

daveirl

This post has been deleted.